A Little Break
by penguino3782
Summary: Lena needs a break from school and J needs a break from the family business. Basically, they both need a break from life. That's where a little junk food and "The Incredibles" come into play.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Animal Kingdom**

 **A/N: Hi all! I have not forgotten about "Family Ties", but this little idea came to mind and I had to get it down. I'm a little torn about this season of Animal Kingdom. I feel like J is about to explode with all the pressure he's under. He needs a break. And if Smurf and his uncles aren't going to give him one, then I am!**

 **A Little Break**

J rubs the spot above his eyebrow as he concentrates on the task in front of him. No matter how many times he runs the numbers, the cash isn't there. The family's monthly bills and obligations are costing them far more than what they're bringing in. They need cash. And from the looks of it, they need a lot. And they need it now.

He's running the numbers for the twentieth time, maybe he missed something the previous nineteen times, when he feels that unmistakably feeling you get when you're being watched. He looks up to see Pope standing in the doorway.

"Um…hi."

"I need you to watch Lena," Pope says.

"Me?" J asks. "She doesn't have school?"

"She's out early. Teacher professional development or something. Can you do it?"

Why is Pope asking him? He hasn't spent much time with the girl since Baz was killed and Pope took over looking after Lena. "You have no one else? A sitter? Craig or Deran?"

He shales his head. "The sitter is out of town for a wedding. And Deran is at the bar. You know how he gets about having Lena there. He's 'Mister Business' now, all proper and shit. And I don't trust Craig or Nicky to watch her. They'll probably shoot up and let Lena in the pool without watching her. And she's not the strongest swimmer. Yes or no. Can you do it?"

"Normally, I would. But I have all this to get through," J says as he motions to the stack of papers in front of him.

Pope rolls his eyes. "I'm not asking you to take her to Disney Land. Just keep an eye on her. She's in the living room watching a movie. Just check on her every so often to make sure she's not getting into any trouble. I'll grab some dinner on my way back."

J agrees. "Okay, fine."

Pope doesn't say anything else as he turns around to leave the room.

 **XXXXX**

J continues to work through the financials for another twenty minutes when the numbers start to blend together. He needs a break. And he should probably check in on Lena. The last thing he needs is Pope to get pissed at him because something happened to the kid.

Lena is totally engrossed in what she's watching that she doesn't even see J standing in the door way until he asks if she wants something to drink. He takes a seat besides her on the couch when he returns with a juice box for her and a bottle of water for himself

He doesn't recognize the characters on the screen. But that's not surprising. He can't remember the last time he watched an animated movie. "What are you watching?"

"The Incredibles," Lena answers as she takes a large sip of her juice. She turns to him. "Pope is going to take me to see the new one so I wanted to watch this again before we go. Have you seen it?"

J shakes his head. He didn't watch movies much when he was growing up. They're pretty much a luxury when you're wondering when your next meal was coming and whether or not you were going to have a roof over your head come the end of the month.

"It's the best. They all have superpowers!"

"Super powers, huh?" J asks. He wishes he had super powers at the moment. Or at least the ability to get the cash they need to stay afloat.

"Uh huh," Lena says excitedly as she points to each character on the screen. "The Dad has super strength. The Mom can stretch her body. Violet can be invisible and Dash has super speed."

J nods his head as Lena goes through a tutorial of the movie's characters and the movie plot. "So if you could have any super power what would it be?"

Without hesitation, Lena replies. "I want to be invisible."

J quirks his eyebrow up. When he asked the question he was thinking her answer would be different. Something that a young kid would say. Maybe something a little silly. Like the ability to be really tall? Or the ability to hypnotize adults so they can eat whatever they want for dinner.

But, her answer is so serious. And worse. The way she answered him, it was so sad, Too sad for a seven-year old. He knows there's a reason behind it. And he should probably leave something like this to Pope to deal with, but he already opened this can of worms. "Why do you want the ability to be invisible?"

Lena looks down at her juice box and mumbles. "School."

J nods. He knows that Lena is having problems in school. That the other kids were bullying her so bad that Pope took her out and enrolled her in another school.

He also knows how cruel kids can be. He experienced that first hand. He was never part of the in crowd. He never had a lot of friends in school, besides Nicky. He learned to let the insults about his clothes and drug addict mother roll off his back. But that took years. He remembers being Lena's age and hating school. Hating how cruel the kids were. Coming home with a bloody nose after getting into a fight with Johnny Pellerico when he made a comment about J not knowing who his father was. And his mom was no help or comfort when he got home because she was too high herself to care.

"Kids are…."

"Assholes," Lena finishes.

J can't help but laugh. She's one hundred percent right. "That they are. Kids were mean to me too when I was a kid."

She turns to him with big, brown eyes. "Do things get better when you get older? Did they stop picking on you?"

He wants to tell her yes. But, is that being completely truthful? It wasn't too long ago that he was still ducking his head down in as he walked in the hallway to avoid dealing with Johnny Pellerico and his asshole buddies. Besides, she's always going to have to deal with shit heads who think they know all about her family.

"Some kids are always going to be jerks," J replies. He'll choose his words carefully.

Lena looks down, her shoulders slumping.

"But, you're in a new school now. Give it a chance. Sometimes all you need is a fresh start," J explains.

"And you have something else that I didn't have," he says as he bumps her shoulder playfully.

"What?"

"You have Pope. He's not going to let anyone hurt you. He's going to do everything he can to make sure that doesn't happen."

J can't believe he's saying that. But, it's true. He knows that Pope loves Lena and will do anything for her. And Pope is definitely someone you would rather be with than go up against.

Lena nods her head. "I guess you're right. He did let me switch schools."

J smiles. Crisis averted. "You feel better?"

Lena cocks her head to the side. "A little. But icecream will help."

J chuckles. "I think Nicky bought some cake batter icecream. I'll get us some."

Lena nods her head excitedly as J gets up from the couch. "Don't tell Pope I gave you icecream before dinner."

"I won't!" Lena calls out as J goes to the kitchen.

 **XXXXX**

A couple of hours later, Pope returns to find Lena and J on the couch laughing at something on the television.

"Hey guys, I got pizza for dinner." Pope says.

Lena lets out a moan. "I'm not hungry."

"It's after 7. How can you not be hungry?" Pope asks.

"It must have been the icecream, Sour Patch Kids, and popcorn." Lena says.

"Lena!" J hisses. "You weren't supposed to say anything."

"Oops," Lena says not so innocently.

J looks at his uncle worriedly.

Pope shoots his nephew an admonishing look silently yelling at him 'what were you thinking? Giving a seven-year-old junk food al afternoon." Pope wants to be mad, but he can't. Not when Lena is finally smiling and laughing. He'll let this one go.

"Don't make this a habit. We can have this tomorrow. Lena, you ready to go home and get ready for bed."

Lena nods as she stands up to start getting her things together. She turns to J and holds out her arms for a hug. J looks a bit like a deer in the headlights and it takes a few seconds for him to stand and hug the girl.

"Thanks, J." Lena says as she pulls away.

"No problem, Lena." J replies.

As Lena and Pope begin to make their exit, Pope turns to his nephew. "Yeah. Thanks, J."

At first, J thinks his uncle is being sarcastic but when his uncle doesn't say anything else and quickly turns around to leave, he realizes he's not. He is genuinely thankful.

Alone for once in the empty house, J decides to grab a beer. It's been one hell of a day.

 **I know this is a little G-rated, especially for this fandom. But, I think that Lena and J have a lot of similarities and I wish we would see them interacting with each other more.**


End file.
